Sometimes you go on that one trip where everything works out perfectly: the flight there, the flight back, the intricate plans of each day’s travel. My London trip was SO not one of those trips. Although I had a great time in the country whose asses we kicked some 200 years ago (ok, the French helped. WHATEVER), it was punctuated with waiting, confusion, and complete failures in planning (none of which were my fault). Ok, well… maybe they were my fault a little bit.
I already abbreviated my travel from Warsaw. I made what should be a 3-hour trip take 12 hours, saving about $100. Yes, it was worth it. $100 is $100. Here was my London plan:
Stay with “Cousin Nick” (my sister’s boyfriends cousin) and his family of 7 (7!) in Coulsdon, near, London from Thursday until Monday.
My whole family has met cousin Nick, but I somehow missed this momentous experience every time.
My message to him went something like “I have never met you, but know you live in London and my family loves you so…”
He returned the message with a simple 'absolutely' and what station was closest to his house
Switch to stay with Liz (LIZ!!!!!) at the BU London dorms in South Kensington, London.
Return to Madrid and hibernate.
During my time in the Gothenburg, Sweden Airport, sans internet, I realize I only have the name of commuter station where I have to go in order to be close to Cousin Nick’s house, but no phone-number or address. I decide to wing it. DID I LEARN NOTHING IN KRAKOW?? I blame sleep deprivation and cabin fever for this idiotic decision.
I arrive to London at 11PM and to Liverpool station at 12:30AM. I ask the bus driver how to get to Coulsdon South Station. He speaks with a heavy middle-eastern accent and I can’t understand him. “I was so excited to visit a country where I spoke the language perfectly!!!” I sputter. I blame sleep deprivation and growing up in New Hampshire for this comment.
A British man notes my distress and points me to the police station across the street. A man in uniform and with a British accent put me at ease… until he tells me the next train to Coulsdon South is at 6AM. He points me to the 24-hour dinner. After 3 hours, I decide hey, what the hell, why not order a full English breakfast. I see my fair share of bacchanalians, night-shift police, and creepy-looking night romers, but never feel unsafe at this place.
New Favorite/least favorite place in the world
This picture was captured at: 4AM. I am so working class I can't even handle it.
There is a euphoric hour of internet where I tell Nick my stranded situation and ask for his number and/or address. Internet access ends. It starts to rain outside. It is 6AM. I still don’t know where to go. I find out an internet café around the corner opens at 10AM. I wait. By 7AM, after being awake for 23 hours, I break. I give myself 5 minutes to cry in Liverpool station and none of the British commuters take notice. Finally the café opens. Nick has messaged me with his address and phone number. I go to Victoria Station and after more confusion than anticipated get to Coulsdon South, call cousin Nick, and he is already waiting there. I am inexplicably happy.
He gives me a quick tour of the house, but I am zombielike. Did he just say “pool” and “sauna” and “gym”? After sleeping until dinner, I realize that the family’s house, is, in fact, completely beautiful and I had heard correctly. That night we go to Nick and his wife's friend’s house for a birthday party where we eat some delicious curry succeeded by a whole lot of alcohol.
It turns out Cousin Nick used to be a tour-guide and knows seemingly everything about London’s quirky history, his favorite thing to talk about being the Tower of London (next to the Tower Bridge), so we head there first. We get in a cab after that to hit all the major sites in an hour before he has to go to go be an adult (re: go to a meeting with a client).
Tower of London to the left and the Tower Bridge to the Right (NOT THE LONDON BRIDGE. Nick informed me multiple times how Robert McCulloch bought the "London Bridge" to bring to Arizona and when it arrived he was very unpleasantly surprised to see he had bought the wrong one)
Big Ben!!
Another section of the British Parliament (Big Ben is a PART of the monstrous building)
Westminster Abbey
Such Cool cabs. Inside and out.
The Victoria Memorial at the East Front of Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace. You may have heard of it.
London Eye! Nick and I were going to go on it but it was closed until January 20! Sad sad sad.
The Southbank of the River Thames (pronounced Tems) was one of my favorite areas of the city
Before he leaves me to discover the city for myself, though, he buys me a ticket to see the musical Jersey Boys in Soho!! Because he has already let me stay in his home, eat his food, and showed me the whole city, I didn’t expect him to do even MORE for me. Craziness.
JERSEY BOYS!!! SPOKEN IN MY NATIVE TONGUE (ok, the trashy version of my native tongue)!!
The next day, I plan to go to Stonehenge with my friend’s friend, Richard (rent-a-friend, as Cousin Nick calls it), a Portugeuse South African who has lived in London for a couple years but still has never been to the lovely pile of rocks. I told him to book us a ticket for a tour, but when we met up that morning he informs me he hasn’t. Fine. We can get one, it's only 10AM. Well, 10AM is too late to go on a Stonehenge tour. I hide my anger successfully from my new rent-a-friend. We do a day of site-seeing instead and I return to Cousin Nick’s just in time to experience a “proper British roast” at their friend’s house. Really, how did I get so lucky?
St. Paul's Cathedral, built in the 17th Century
Richard at the Tate Modern! Oh, and Monet's Water Lillies
SO PROUD.
Shakespeare Theatre
The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum!!!
I am determined to go to Stonehenge Monday so I wake up with the sun and get a nice, cheap 20 pound tour. After 2.5 hours of attempted sleep, we arrive to Stonehenge, pick up our audio-guides and start learning about this 4000(ish)-year old rock formation. Yes, we only spend an hour there. Yes, the travel time was 5 hours. Yes, it was worth it. IT’S FRIGGEN STONEHENGE and I am sick of people telling me it isn't worth it.
Stonehenge, me, and a do not cross sign
That night, my rent-a-friend, who is my real friend at this point, and I go to Brick Lane for some Indian food. There is a promoter outside of every restaurant offering a free bottle of wine with our dinner or a free appetizer, or 25% off our check and every other deal imaginable. Warning: when getting Indian food in London, know that it will be delicious, but not at all spicy.
Meeting up with Liz the next day proves very difficult, especially since I have to depend on pay phones (yes, the red ones). I transverse the very large city twice before finally meeting up with Liz and Kat at Starbucks in the VERY posh neighborhood of South Kensington. We go to Harrod’s Department store, which is like a more expensive version of Saks, get lost in there for an hour, then to dinner with her floor. It is so weird to feel like I am at BU while I am still thousands of miles away.
Sorry to be American but OHMYGOD NOMMMMMM CHIPOTLE!!!!!!!!!
One of the many ridiculously ornate rooms in Harrod's Department Store
We go to Imperial College Bar (the bigger, better version of BU pub), where I feel even MORE like I am back in Boston, but in the best way possible. I see about 20 people I know from BU and one person I know from high school! Even weirder, she is roommates with a girl I knew from Freshman year at BU. I swear the world is shrinking as I see more and more of it.
SAM!!! This girl keeps me young.
Being the huge nerd that I am, I go to the BU’s orientation lecture on British Politics at 10AM and see literally 100 people I know (naturally, since there are over 300 people in the program and it is required to attend the lectures). After that, I take the short walk to the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Science Museum. ALL PUBLIC MUSEUMS ARE FREE. Win.
Science Museum. Not a must see.
Tapestry room in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which IS a must see.
Really cool entrance in the Natural History Museum. This place would have
been a lot better without screaming children running in circles around me.
At night I go to Top Shop with Liz and her roommates, which just upsets me because I can’t buy anything. God, I hate shopping. At night, I decide I should insert myself even further into BU London life and go to the orientation comedy night. Stand-up, wine, and dinner for 7 pounds? It was impossible to resist.
I cannot leave London without seeing Platform 9¾, so the next day I go there with Sam (my summer roommate) and Liz. It is nearly impossible to find and a huge disappointment when we finally do. Sam runs off to class after that and Liz can only hang out for a half hour longer, but we say good-bye knowing we will see each other in Berlin in a few weeks.
Feigning excitement to go to Hogwarts
How could I NOT take one of these pictures?
Liz and I in front of the London Eye!!!
Parliament Square
I decide I need to get fish and chips before I leave the city. I am a fan. I am not a fan of the ‘mushy peas’ that go with it, nor the feeling I get a half hour after eating, though.
Fish N' Chips. yum. Mushy Peas (yes that is their official name). Not yum.
To end my London epic (look at how long this post is; it is an epic), I meet up with Kat to see Abbey Road (I will not explain to you what Abbey Road is). It turns out this is a crosswalk without walking signs and people from London are ACTUALLY cold meanies, so crossing proves difficult and terrifying.
Casually crossing Abbey Road with Kat.
As I pack up my things, I realize how ready I am to return to my new home and new language. I was lucky enough to meet some unbelievably generous Brits, but unfortunately, they were the exception, not the rule. Who knows if they are defensive, bitter, or just generally unpleasant to anyone who asks for directions; to me, half of the natives I met seemed to be pissed off about something. Of course, this was only MY experience, so I challenge you to go London and find the other half.
So my 3.5 weeks of travel came and went and I had an amazing time, but I anxiously anticipated going "home" as much as I did all my other destinations.
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